Preparing for the role of Joker had Joaquin Phoenix going mad, as he shed 52lbs for the troubled comic character.
The 44-year-old actor lost a lot of weight to portray Batmans most famous foe in the upcoming DC Comics origins story and has now admitted his rapid weightloss helped him get into character in a rather startling kind of manner.
He explained: It turns out that affects your psychology. You start to go mad.
Well alright then.
Pictures began emerging from the set months ago, with the trailer dropping last week which saw Joaquin expertly step into the characters boots in an unsettling way.
Which worked quite well, we have to say.
Speaking about landing the role, Joaquin admitted one aspect that took him some time to grasp was his characters distinctive laugh.
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He roped in director Todd Phillips to audition the laugh, to ensure hed got the sound right.
Joaquin said: [It needed to be] something thats almost painful. I think for Joker its a part of him that wants to emerge. I think we all kind of assume what a Joker laugh is and it felt like a new, fresh way of looking at it.
I didnt think that I could do it. I kind of practiced alone but I asked Todd to come over to audition my laugh. I felt like I had to be able to do it on the spot and in front of somebody else. It was really uncomfortable. It took me a long time.
Judging by the reaction to the trailer, it seems he has that maniacal laugh down perfectly.
The Joker has previously been played by the likes of Jack Nicholson, the late Heath Ledger, and Jared Leto, and Joaquin has revealed he deliberately stayed away from looking at other incarnations of the role.
They are big shoes to fill, each and every one.
More: Joaquin Phoenix
Speaking at the Venice Film Festival he said: For me the attraction to make this film was we were going to approach it in our own way. I didnt refer to any past iterations of [the Joker]. It just felt like our own creations, which was really important to me and the key to it.
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Joker is in cinemas 4 Read More – Source
